Wander Down to Delhi By The Way
Located amongst the gentrified townhouses behind the once bustling nightclub strip of Bayswater Road is India restaurant, Delhi By The Way. As we enter this two-story converted terrace house we are greeted by the wonderful aroma of Indian spices. Warm yellow lighting shines down from the giant restaurant sign on the front terrace creating an inviting glow along with entwined fairy lights. Small, intimate tables are topped with white tablecloths that will unfortunately be covered in stains in no time at all. Unfortunate for them, lucky for us. Traditional Indian music fills the room enough to make you feel as though you’ve just left Sydney and landed at the finest restaurant in Delhi.
We sit down on the outside terrace, and take in the ambience of this quiet little corner of Potts Point. There’s nay a drunk teenager in sight despite it being a warm Wednesday night. My how things have changed in the Cross.
The never-ending menu is overwhelming. There are both vegetarian and meat options, curries made with goat, lamb, beef, chicken and a giant list of assorted entrees, most of which we’ve never even heard of. Forget butter chicken from your local takeaway joint, this is your opportunity to be a bit adventurous.
We start with a generous entree platter of murgh tikka, boneless chicken marinated in familiar chicken tikka spices, cooked in the tandoor It’s rather dry with no sauce to really soak up the chicken. Next we try the hara kebab, little morsels of deep fried baby spinach patties with Indian spices that have savoury, earthy flavours. It goes well with the sweet chicken. But it is the Pudina Chaap (lamb chops) that made us lick our fingers with gusto.
Traditional lamb chops coated with Indian spices and flavoured with mint, this is a wonderful way to start our meal. We lather everything with the cucumber raita served on the side, a creamy compliment to the mild spice.
Make sure you don’t fill up too much on the entrees. For mains we try two different curries along with garlic naan and white rice. Curry number one is the Jungli Murg, a mild mix of chicken marinated with freshly ground spices and baby spinach. There is a delicious surprise of cooked ginger that really stands out in this light and pleasant curry.
Curry number two is a well-known favourite, the beef madras. Small pieces of beef swim in a decadent, creamy sauce of coconut cream and tomato gravy. Both curries deliver the same familiar, warm Indian flavours you expect from a good, hearty curry. Whilst neither are particular ground breaking dishes they’re consistent and more traditional.
Delhi By the Way
42 Kellett St, Potts Point
Tues – Sun: 5pm-11pm
See website